Run Away
by Amaranth the Immortal
Summary: *Songfic* Ikuto is finding it easier to escape from the feelings he's been having when he sees Amu with Tadase instead of facing them head on. Can Amu save him from this grief or will it be too late for him? Rated T for angst


**I really have no idea where this one-shot came from. I was listening to a song on my iPod (I'll be getting an iPod Touch for my birthday on August 25!! :D) and started imagining Amu and Ikuto following along with the lyrics and then... this. It's angsty and doesn't have a happy ending. There are no character deaths, but still... Lately, I've been feeling down in the dumps so that probably encouraged this. And due to my sudden depression, the writting of the sequel to Her Dark Memories has been put on hold. Plus, my fandom for shugo Chara has been unfortunately dying down. :( Hopefully, it'll pass soon... And please no flames. I haven't been feeling very happy as it is so those will only make me feel worse. Anyway, I'm sure these feelings will pass soon so don't worry 'bout me (if you even care) XD**

**Disclaimer: Shugo Chara... Well, what do you think?**

**This is a songfic in case you haven't read the summary carefully. The lyrics are in italics. The song is "Run Away" and the band that perfoems it is my favorite, "Stream of Passion".**

_You were a light  
A stroke of hope amongst the dark  
You were the chance  
For me to open up my heart  
But I saw you fly away from me  
Didn't know how to keep you back_

"Ikuto you perv," Amu laughed, hitting him lightly on the arm. He chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug, feeling the warm radiate off of her.

"What can I say? I can't help getting close to you, _Amu_," he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Suddenly getting an idea, he moved his hands to her sides and started to lightly run them up and down her ribs. Giggles bubbled up through her lips at the feeling.

"Ikuto, that tickles!" she shouted, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. He grinned at her, but didn't relent in his attack. He loved these moments; the good and honest ones. They were the ones that he treasured when he wasn't near her.

"Hinamori-san!" an annoying, high pitched voice shouted. Ikuto's fingers immediately stopped moving and he glared coldly at the approaching figure.

"Kiddy King," he growled.

"Hi, Tadase-kun," Amu greeted loudly while happily waving, her hand high up in the air. Ikuto's gaze turned towards her as he wondered why she didn't look surprised to see the little boy king. She took a step towards the patiently waiting Tadase and turned back to Ikuto with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Ikuto, but I have to go. Tadase-kun and I have some things we need to do today." And with that, she turned away from him again and continued walking toward the smiling, eager Tadase. Ikuto took a step in her direction and raised his hand. He opened his mouth to call her back, but nothing came out. Frowning, he realized that he just did know what to say and before he managed to come up with something, Amu was already too far away to hear with Tadase following her like a devoted puppy.

_So close, so near  
My every thought was filled with you  
Can't take the risk  
Of losing and not pulling through  
So I pushed you away from me  
And I know you won't be coming back_

Ikuto closed his eyes as he played a sorrowful melody on his violin. He heard feet lightly hitting the pavement and the sound grew in volume, signaling that someone was coming. Opening his eyes, but not ceasing his playing, Ikuto saw Amu standing a few feet away, listening to his music in a dream-like state. His lips curved into a small smile and he concentrated on the song once more, improvising around certain parts, making it more beautiful and complex.

"That was beautiful," Amu told him quietly.

"Not as much as you," he replied simply, grinning as her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of light pink. His grin turned into a smile as she unconsciously stepped closer to him. Her strawberry scent rode on the wind and came directly to his face allowing him to experience her smell without having her flip out about him getting to close and invading her personal space.

Ikuto froze as the words the director of Easter had said earlier that day entered his mind,

"You're a bad luck magnet, son. Everyone around you will suffer from your sorrow and when they can no longer take it, they'll just leave you behind. That's why I want you to concentrate entirely on your work for Easter. Work with always stay with you; it'll never abandon you like other humans will. You can't cause it any of the pain that you do for other people so it's currently the ideal companion for you."

Ikuto took those words into consideration as he looked down at Amu. She was so young; she shouldn't have to suffer the consequences that came with being around him. Forcing his face to erase any emotion, Ikuto turned away from Amu and knelt on the ground, packing his violin away.

"So, how's Easter treating you?" Amu asked him lightly, trying to spark up a conversation.

"Why do you need to know, little kid?" Ikuto asked right back. He stood and looked over his shoulder at her with cold eyes and a hard face. Amu's face grew red with anger and her fists clenched at her sides.

"I'm _not _a kid," she hissed. Good, she was getting angry. He knew that calling her a kid was something she truly hated. He needed her to get mad at him and leave before any of his darkness could rub off on her.

"Oh, but you are," he said in a false angry voice. "You're only twelve; you can't understand the horrors of the real world. And since you don't, there's absolutely no need in talking to you."

"Fine!" she shouted, angry tears forming in her eyes. "If that's really what you want." She turned away from him and stalked away, her back stiff as a board. She didn't look like she had any intention of turning back.

_My loneliness is wrapped in fear  
It's taken the lead so I'm gonna stay  
Behind the comfort of a dream  
I wanna get near, but I gotta say  
It's so much easier to run away  
Run away_

Walking through the streets of the city, Ikuto's violin case dug into his back and the cold morning air smacked him in the face. It was almost summer but the mornings were still as unpleasantly cold as usual. His blue eyes were trained on the ground in front of him as he plowed through the crowd of busy people. His mind was preoccupied by memories; memories of the happy times he spent with Amu. He often daydreamed about these times in his life when things got to difficult to handle in real life.

Hearing a familiar bright laugh up ahead, Ikuto was wrenched from his thoughts as his head snapped instinctively in the direction that sound had come from. And once he saw it, he wished he never did.

Waiting for the cross walk sign to turn into a picture of a walking man was Amu with Tadase standing next to her. They were laughing jovially about something or another; Ikuto really didn't care. The pain in his heart was caused by the fact that Amu was with Tadase and not him. And the fact that they were holding hands didn't help either. He wanted to walk up to them and claim Amu for himself, but he couldn't make his body do so.

So, he turned on his heel and quickly walked away, the scene embedded in his mind still painfully fresh.

_It hurts to say  
I'm not as strong as I proclaim  
I hide my grief  
But it will find me anyway  
Cause I pushed you away from me  
And I know you won't be coming back_

Ikuto slumped against the side of the alleyway, the rain drenching him. His eyes were half lidded as he stared at the rain drops sliding off of his bangs. His violin case was on the ground beside him and he went down to join it.

He'd just seen Amu running in the park, Tadase at her heels, both of them laughing joyously. Lately, they'd been inseparable. If you wanted to find one of them, you'd find the other. And to Ikuto, it seemed that both of them liked it that way.

He sighed as he quickly turned his thoughts away from the subject. Lifting his head so he could gaze up at the clouded sky, he wondered why things could never seem to take off with him and Amu. Whenever he was near her, he would try to make advances on her and show her that he wanted to be close to her, to be more than just friends. But she would blow it all off, dismissing it as another one of his perverted acts. It hurt him deeply. She seemed to have no problem with him just being an acquaintance that she would only see every once in a while.

Whenever he was upset with the Kiddy King's closeness to Amu and Utau saw that it was troubling him, she would ask him if he was alright. Every time, he would casually reply that he was fine. But the thing is he really wasn't. He was never okay with it and everyone around him failed to notice.

Taking a deep breath, he dragged himself to his feet and picked up his violin case. As he began his walk back home, he remembered that time around a week ago when he called Amu a kid. She seemed really upset and probably wouldn't forgive him easily.

'Well that's good,' Ikuto thought, ignoring the ache he clearly felt in his heart. 'The farther away from me she is, the better for her safety.' But that didn't mean that it made him any happier.

_My loneliness is wrapped in fear  
It's taken the lead so I'm gonna stay  
Behind the comfort of a dream  
I wanna get near but I've gotta say  
It's so much easier to run away (run away)  
Run away (run away)_

Resting high up in a tree, Ikuto dreamed happy dreams of happy times he's shared with his unrequited love, Amu. Speaking of Amu, he could vaguely hear her voice and quickly sat up on the large branch, hoping to see her alone. But no such luck. Walking next to her was of course Tadase. Scoffing, Ikuto leaned back until he was against the trunk of the tree and let his leg dangle over the edge, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the little boy.

Tadase seemed uncertain about what he was going to do next. He grabbed Amu's arm and pulled her to a stop. She turned back to look at him in surprise. Up in his tree, Ikuto raised an eyebrow as he watched the scene below him unfold.

The little king visibly gulped and pulled Amu towards him, bringing her lips down on his. Ikuto flinched and watched with a falling heart as Amu made no move to pull away. He wanted to jump down and pull Tadase away only to kiss her himself. But once again, his damn body made no move mainly because it was unsure of what to do. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ikuto forced himself not to feel any emotion as he jumped out of the tree and headed to his home, making an important decision.

Unknown to Ikuto, Amu didn't pull away because she liked the kiss. Truthfully, she was frozen with shock and a bit of disgust. She didn't think of Tadase in this way anymore. She no longer wanted to be more than friends with him. She did have those feelings however with Ikuto.

Roughly pulling away, she turned on her heel without a word and stalked away, ignoring Tadase's calls. She figured that it would be better for him if she didn't explain. It wouldn't hurt as badly if he never knew who she had chosen instead of him, his rival Ikuto.

On that night when she found the cat boy playing his violin, she was looking for him. She'd realized her feelings for him while remembering all of the times they shared. She was going to tell him that night. But when he acted coldly towards her and called her a child, her determination withered away and she hid her pain behind her anger. Later that night, she figured that she wouldn't approach him until he came to her first. And that was when she started to hang out with Tadase more. She needed a friend to be with her while she thought about Ikuto and Tadase was the first person she saw. She never expected him to make a move on her and most definitely didn't wish for any romantic feelings he had for her to surface.

But now wasn't the time for her to think about that. Right now as she walked away from Tadase, she came to the conclusion that she had waited for Ikuto long enough. If he wasn't going to apologize to her, then she might as well just go talk to him about it.

Amu knocked on the door of the Tsukiyomi household and impatiently waited for someone to answer. After a few minutes, she raised her hand to knock again, but froze halfway. She distinctly heard the sound of a girl crying on the other side of the door.

'Utau?' Amu thought worriedly as she quickly entered the room. She saw Utau sitting at the table, her head in her arms, as she cried her eyes out. Amu quickly walked over and put her hand around Utau's shoulders.

"Utau!? What happened?"

"I- It's Ikuto," Utau replied, not lifting her head up.

"What's Ikuto?" Amu asked, a bad feeling growing in her stomach.

"H- He's," Utau began before her voice got stuck in her throat due to sobs. "He's gone!"

"What?" Amu shouted. "Where's he going?"

"Away from here. He told me not to follow him. He's gone to the train station in the southern part of town." She grabbed Amu by the collar, pulling her down to eye level. "You have to go after him. You're the only one that can talk some sense into that idiot!"

Amu only nodded and quickly ran through the door, heading towards the train station.

'Ikuto…'

Ikuto looked out of the window of the train, lost in thought. He couldn't stand staying near Amu and Tadase anymore. He couldn't stand the sight of having Amu with another man romantically; it hurt too much.

The train spring to life and started to move. Ikuto's attention was quickly pulled toward the pink head of hair running towards the train. Dismissing it as some other person, Ikuto closed his eyes and turned away. He didn't want to remember her.

Amu was running up to the train, tears spilling from her eyes as she it dawned on her:

She was too late.

But still, she kept running, not giving up hope until the bitter end when the train left the station and she was standing alone, her tears warm on her cold face.

Ikuto wasn't feeling much better. He rested his head against the window, suddenly getting the feeling that he was making the biggest mistake of his life. Maybe that pink headed person was Amu and she was trying to prevent him from leaving. Did that mean that he was wrong about her feelings for Tadase, that perhaps she cared for him, Ikuto, more?

These thoughts pained him. The chance he had to be with Amu; had he just thrown it away? He pushed those thoughts from his head, not wanting to think of them at all. He didn't wish to ponder on what could have been.

_My loneliness is wrapped in fear  
It's taken the lead but I'm gonna stay  
Behind the comfort of a dream  
I wanna give in but I've gotta say  
It's so much easier to run away (run away)  
Run away_

**Meh, they were OOC... Heh, I always find something I'm not satisfied with in my fics. Anyway, I'll get working on the sequel to Her Dark Memories right now so expect that soon. :) And take this oneshot as a reminder that I'm not dead...**


End file.
